Hey all,
First of all, I'm sorry if this is post is out of place. Mods feel free to move it elsewhere.
I'm an Irishman from the Republic and looking to join the British Army. I've been to college, have a good job(technical, GIS/Mapping, Aerial Photography) but want to join the military. I reckon I would get a better career in the BA than Irish. Anyway I tried phoning the Royal Irish Regiment several times during the week but they are constantly engaged, do they have a huge spike in recruiting or something?
I would like to know if it is possible to join as a normal recruit and then after 5 or so years of service to attempt to become an Officer? Or is there a strict line that separates both.

How many times a year does the army recruit and train? I guess there might be another recruitment drive at the end of the year?

Oh and finally are the recruitment call times between 9am -6pm Mon-Fri? Do the lines stay open later? I will try to phone them again tomorrow but it is difficult as I am always on the move at work.

Arrange to visit both Regiments. My lad chose 2 Royal Welsh, only because he wasn't too fussed on the ceremonial duties that the Welsh Guards carry out, either way..try to "suck it and see" before making any choices

There is no bar to individuals joining as soldiers and then applying for a commission. From the website above there is an online recruiting office which gives you an option to chat online to a recruiter.

Hey all,
First of all, I'm sorry if this is post is out of place. Mods feel free to move it elsewhere.
I'm an Irishman from the Republic and looking to join the British Army. I've been to college, have a good job(technical, GIS/Mapping, Aerial Photography) but want to join the military. I reckon I would get a better career in the BA than Irish. Anyway I tried phoning the Royal Irish Regiment several times during the week but they are constantly engaged, do they have a huge spike in recruiting or something?
I would like to know if it is possible to join as a normal recruit and then after 5 or so years of service to attempt to become an Officer? Or is there a strict line that separates both.

How many times a year does the army recruit and train? I guess there might be another recruitment drive at the end of the year?

Oh and finally are the recruitment call times between 9am -6pm Mon-Fri? Do the lines stay open later? I will try to phone them again tomorrow but it is difficult as I am always on the move at work.

Cheers,
soldierZ

Click to expand...

As a non UK national you will not be able to apply for a commision without serving in the ranks for at least a year. Don't know why that is but all the officers we have from the ROI have had to do it that way. You therefore need to be careful about where you do your year as a soldier. If your intention is to be an officer in the R IRISH do your year as a soldier somewhere else. They will only have one battalion very shortly and you don't want to serve as a soldier and then come back as an officer in the same battalion if you can help it.

With reference to the telephone number it sounds like you have the wrong one. Try Emailing them using the contact details on the Regt website.

I spent so,e fantastic times with the Irish Guards, and if you want to join the British army you may as well join something with abit of kudos and elan! The Household Division (Irish Guards are part of that) Is a great place to be if you want great training, but becoming an officer might be abit tricky. Lot of blue blood in the Guards Officers mess and they may not take kindly to lesser mortals trying to muscle in with a degree and soem education. That was my experience anyway, it may have changed... Good on you for wanting to join a proper Army though, at least you'll get the chance to do some soldiering.......

I'll be leaving for infantry training next year and cant decide on wether to join the royal welch or the welsh guard.

can some of you mention the good/bad points of these two regiments please?

Click to expand...

Having worked alongside both on Ops:

Royal Welch are very firmly in the infantry, and a bloody fine mob: very workmanlike.

Debate is ongoing as to whether any Guards regiment is actually part of the British Army, the paramilitary wing of the Tourist Board, or the armed forces of an unnamed banana republic from another planet in a parallel dimension. 2nd Bn Scots Guards a possible exception: research continues.

Until that debate is resolved, I'd recommend the Regiment that gave the world Siegfried ("Mad Jack") Sassoon MC and Robert Graves.

Cheers for info and support everyone. I'm still in the process of getting various information from Royal Irish and the Paras. If I get any interesting and useful info I will post it up so other folks can read.

Are you really set on an inf role? It would be a shame to waste the years of GIS, mapping etc. I know there are units with that specialisation - REs I think - good blokes that I worked with anyway.

Click to expand...

Quite right, why not join the Royal Engineers as a Geo Tech. You can recieve a "Golden Hello" (a few grand) for joining, because they are a pinch point trade at the moment. Speak to your local careers office for more information. Or you can speak to a British Army recruiter on-line through the ArmyJobs website. Good luck.

I'm 16 but seriously considering joining the infantry, I'm from Wales, and would prefer infantry over any other job in the Army, so I was wondering if I was to join what would I be doing for 2 years, since I'm told you can't take part in operations until the age of 18.